One of the 9 corals on WAnimals
Anthozoans · Scleractinia · Acroporidae
Acropora palmata
At extremely high risk of imminent extinction in the wild.
For 10,000 years it was one of the dominant reef-building corals of the Caribbean, but its population has fallen by roughly 97% since 1980.
Size
up to 3.5 m
Diet
Omnivore
Combines animal and plant food depending on availability.
Activity
Nocturnal
Active mainly at night.
Social structure
Colony
Lives in large concentrations, often for breeding reasons.
Sighting difficulty
Very hard
AI-generated images: illustrations, not photographs.
Sources consulted: UWI Life Sciences (OGATT); PMC (long-term survival study); U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service; Animalia.bio; Wikipedia (Elkhorn coral); Reef Smart Guides; Animal Diversity Web; ECOS (FWS species profile)
Best time: All year round on shallow Caribbean reefs; the mass spawning is concentrated into a few nights in August, after the full moon.
Parks and dive sites where this species has been documented — showing 14 of 99.
Other species in the catalogue with the most in common with Elkhorn Coral — same habitat, park, country, tags or family.
The elkhorn coral is classified as critically endangered. Organisations such as the IUCN, WWF and the Wildlife Conservation Society work specifically on its conservation and that of its habitat; looking into their programmes is a good starting point if you want to get involved.
It's documented in 13 protected areas — one reason why protecting these places matters for its conservation.
Based on what we already know about elkhorn coral.
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The pins mark the parks and dive sites where its presence is documented.
